MSI GS65 Stealth Thin Gaming Laptop Review

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A stealth fighter.

By Jason Cipriani

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The MSI GS65 Stealth Thin (See it on Best Buy) / (See it on Amazon UK) is one of the first laptops available with a brand spanking new Intel "Coffee Lake" CPU. The big deal with these processors are they are the very first six-core Intel CPUs for mobile, so thanks to Hyper-threading you get six cores and 12 threads, which is four more than laptops were capable of previously.

The GS65 Stealth is also the first laptop with a panel that sports a 144Hz refresh rate, and with its GTX 1070 Max-Q GPU it promises to be pretty much everything a gamer could ask for in a slim package. The specific configuration I'm reviewing here is exclusive to Best Buy, but there’s similar configs with slightly different component mixes on Amazon and elsewhere

Design and Features

From top to bottom, the GS65 is impressively designed. The exterior is covered in matte black with gold highlights along the edges, and around the touchpad. On the bottom is a ventilation grille that with a design that reminds me of hundreds of tiny snowflakes. The same pattern is found just above the backlit keyboard, surrounding the power button.

The RGB backlit keyboard is powered by SteelSeries 3, with each key individually lit and is impressively bright. One gripe I have about the keyboard layout is the location of the Function key to the right of the spacebar. Its placement is opposite of what I’m accustomed to using to adjust volume or screen brightness in the middle of a match, which is a distraction I don’t need. The touchpad is smooth and MacBook-like in that it provides a solid click when pressed.

Despite having a 15.6-inch display, MSI slimmed down the overall footprint of the GS65 so much so that a number pad is nowhere to be found on this model. There is an additional column of keys to there right of the Enter key, complete with a shortcut key to quickly switch between presets for the keyboard backlight. The GS65 measures 14.08 x 9.75x 0.69-inches and weighs 4.14-pounds.

One reason the overall size of the GS65 is so small is thanks to 4.9mm bezels on the vertical sides of the display. The lack of a thick border around the display was a treat. I felt like I was looking through a window, instead of at a screen. Although, part of the illusion is due to the 144Hz refresh rate of the FHD 1,920 x 1,080 display. I would like the screen to be a bit brighter, but overall graphics and text are incredibly smooth and sharp. Bucking the typical hinge used on gaming laptops, the GS65’s screen can lay flat on a table or desk, which according to MSI, makes it easier to show a co-worker or client information on the display as he or she sits across from you.

The GS65’s internals is another reason the GS65 is smaller than a typical gaming laptop. With a GTX 1070 Max-Q GPU, MSI can streamline the design and still provide impressive gaming power. Also inside is an Intel Coffee Lake Core i7 processor, 16GB of memory, and a 512GB SSD.

A total of nine ports dot the perimeter of the GS65. The right side is where you’ll find a single USB 3.1 port, the only USB-C port with Thunderbolt, a mini-DisplayPort, an HDMI port, and a power port. The USB-C port is multi-purpose and provides an additional method to connect a display, external hard drive, or sync an accessory to the laptop. The opposite side of the laptop hosts an Ethernet port, two more USB 3.1 ports, and two 3.5mm ports that act as a microphone in and headphone out setup.

Performance

Despite having two additional cores compared to previous laptops, the MSI GS65 didn’t outperform similarly configured laptops from the "olden" days of last month in my benchmark tests.

Overall it seems like the addition of two extra cores didn't do much for the games I use for testing. I'm confident if we had any pure CPU tests that involved file encoding or rendering we'd see a healthy bump over a four-core laptop, but for gaming don't expect much of a boost. It's possible future games will be more adept at handling multithreading, but for the games we are currently using there's simply not much benefit.

Despite the benchmark results, my real world experience left me impressed. There is a smooth overall feel to the laptop’s performance, with apps loading quickly, and mundane tasks like scrolling or moving windows around felt silky smooth. Admittedly, it could be a placebo effect based on my knowledge that it was "faster," but it certainly felt snappier than previous laptops to me.

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The cooling system on the GS65 is loud enough that you’re going to want to use headphones...

In my testing I was also able to detect one drawback to having such a thin laptop with a six-core CPU and a GTX 1070, and that is the cooling system on the GS65 is loud enough that you’re going to want to use headphones when gaming. Even at max volume, fan noise overpowers the speakers. And to that end, the sound system leaves a bit to be desired. There are situations when I’d rather game without headphones on, so it’s a bit disappointing that the sound system doesn’t have enough power to overcome the fan noise.

Despite the loud, high-RPM fans, the left side of the laptop’s housing — just to the left of the keyboard — became incredibly hot during long gaming sessions. Hot enough I couldn’t leave a finger on the metal frame for longer than a few seconds without feeling uncomfortable.

Otherwise, gaming on the GS65 was great. With Ultra settings I consistently registered 65 fps in PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds, and lowering it to "high" bumped it up to the 70fps range. Both numbers are respectable, but my favorite part of using this particular model is the display. It’s crisp, and even though my testing never pushed the 144Hz refresh rate to the extreme I found the on-screen action to be smooth and consistent. And that’s all I can really ask for.

One adjustment i wasn’t quiet able to make in my time with the GS65 had to do with the lack of a Fn key to the left of the spacebar location. Since there's one less key on the bottom row of the keyboard, my muscle memory forced usually allows me to consistently press the Alt key for "free look" when needed. However, with a key missing I found myself errantly hitting the space bar, causing my character to jump instead of enable free look. Outside of that, the keyboard felt smooth and responsive.

Battery Life

Considering the relatively small size of the GS65, battery life is impressive. In fact, the GS65 now sits at the top of laptops I’ve tested with the battery powering through 162 minutes of my video test. Most high-powered laptops can only do about half of that. The Razer Blade Stealth and Alienware 15 R3 are the closest, with 157 minutes and 155 minutes, respectively.

Granted, 2 hours and 42 minutes isn't enough to get through a cross-country flight or day’s worth of meetings, but it’s an impressive performance for a gaming laptop.

Software

Preinstalled on the MG65 are a few different programs, each one designed to boost performance or enhance the overall experience.

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SteelSeries Engine 3 is used to customize the keyboard's backlight or search for profiles dedicated to a specific game.

SteelSeries Engine 3 is used to customize the keyboard's backlight or search for profiles dedicated to a specific game. For example, the app identified PUBG installed on the laptop and prompted me to install the PUBG profile. When activated, the profile highlights and illuminates only the keys used in the game.

MSI’s Dragon Center app includes functionality such as a system monitor, system tuner, voice wizard, and a customizable Gaming Mode. Dragon Center identifies games installed on the laptop and acts as a shortcut to launch the game and customize the performance of the laptop. When starting a game from Dragon Center, the app clears system memory, changes the display to fit the game style, and switches to your desired keyboard lighting profile.

I didn’t see a big performance boost when launching PUBG through Gaming Mode, but being able to begin the game, switch profiles, and optimize the system in with a couple of clicks was convenient enough that I kept using it.

Purchasing Guide

The MSI GS65 Stealth Thin is available in several configurations, but the one we tested is a Best Buy exclusive with an an MSRP of $1,999.

The Verdict

There is a lot to like about the GS65. It’s well designed, super thin given its overall power, and has a crisp and fast display to boot. Also, it has battery life rarely found on a gaming laptop. The speakers are a letdown and the fans can get loud, and if you were looking for extra FPS due to additional cores, you're going to have to keep looking. Still, it's a great laptop for gaming, with looks that match its horsepower.

Great

With six cores and a 144Hz panel on tap the GS65 is a serious gaming machine with great battery life too.